Plum Blossom
by ponta chan
Summary: Oishi, Kikumaru, Tachibana Tezuka. A lot of one sided love and almost confessions. Slightly AU.
1. Plum Blossoms

Kikumaru Eiji was waiting for Oishi Syuichirou on the corner in front of the Family Mart a few blocks over from Seigaku's tennis courts. That is, waiting for him doing a one-handed handstand, attracting a crowd and cheerfully piping "Hoi hoi, I'll do any acrobatic for a tube of toothpaste!" He was quickly getting offers from any kid with a 500 yen piece in his pocket, "If you do a backflip, I'll get you orange peppermint!" or "No if you this, that, and the other I'll get you cherry mint burst!"  
  
Oishi had spotted the crowd from down the block, sucked in his breath and thought "Eiji's probably in the middle of that ring." Unsurprised, he politely made his way through the flock of people, bowed to the crowd, the store owner, and the gods above for the embarrassing display his friend and double partner was causing. He then pulled Kikumaru firmly away despite his protests "Nya, Oishi, I got an offer for that brand new Pineapple Twist brand for only a handspring backflip!"  
  
In spite of himself, Oishi found himself laughing out loud at what was getting to be everyday occurrences now that the team was on break. Tennis season had taken a break due to the monsoon season, which although wasn't as bad as southern Japan, brought irritatingly frequent bursts of torrential rain to the more northern Tokyo. Today had been exceptionally clear though and great day to be out practicing and the Golden Pair had decided to meet for a few rounds to ward off the atrophy that comes, not to mention Eiji's knack for getting into mild trouble.  
  
Although Eiji wasn't his best friend, Oishi always found Kikumaru to be something of that little brother he would want to have, although he found Kikumaru sometimes had an uncanny resemblance to his younger sister. "Nya, Oishi, so what's up? You needed to talk to me about something? A new formation you want to try out? I don't think I can try out anything too great with this second racket, I mean my usually racket's in the shop and ...". At the moment, Eiji was kind of reminiscent of a hyperactive Ibu Shinji, just running off at the mouth.  
  
"Eiji." Oishi stated, suddenly snapping both himself and Kikumaru out of their respective stupors. Kikumaru turned suddenly, stood on his tippy toes and stared back into Oishi's face point blank, a mere 10 centimeters from his face. "Hurm, Oishiiiiiii~~~~! Something's wrong! The corners of your eyes are turned down just a little, like how they always do when you're thinking about something serious! Well you're always worrying but your eyes are curling down even more than usual! Actually you look about as worried as the time you got lost in subway and I had to get you that map and now you carry it with you all the time to make sure you never get lost again... and... uh oops, but anyway, what's wrong Oishiiiii?"  
  
"Eiji, I like someone and I don't know how to tell that person, and I think it's one sided. I mean I've known the person for a long time and I'm pretty sure it would never work out and..." He stopped himself, realizing he was picking up on Kikumaru's habit of rambling on when he got nervous. "Ano yatsu?" Kikumaru stated quite simply, as Oishi flinched slightly at the implied meaning behind the word. It drifted toward the masculine and Oishi face faulted. "How did you know...I mean I've never gone out of my way to..."  
  
Kikumaru suddenly burst into laughter. "Nya, Oishi~~~! I may look like a girl, but's YOU'RE the one who acts like one! You're always hen picking and well... you're not especially macho. Not that I mind, Oishi is Oishi and I like that but, I think the only one who doesn't suspect is probably Ochibi chan cause he's usually too busy watching the courts to watch anything else." Oishi inwardly smiled at this fact, grateful no one has changed their respect or kindness toward him despite his distinct difference between them. Wait, did that mean the one he liked suspected as well? Oishi wondered how that would bode for his up and coming confession. Their pace slowed and stopped in front of the street tennis courts, although neither one had an inclination to enter the courts to play anymore.  
  
"Does that mean you know who I... uhm... like?" Little strips of black hair fell forward to shade his green eyes slightly, which were averted and setting off the pink in his cheeks. The red haired boy smiled. "Heh, Oishi, you know you only talk to me seriously when it concerns two things, tennis or when it's something you can't talk to Tezuka about." He grinned, showing off his perpetually glossy white teeth that matched the trendy white bandage on his cheek he kept there like Tachibana Akane from his favourite character from the manga, I'll. "You know, despite what your doubts, I know you're the type of person who won't be dishonest and hide his feelings. I bet you were going to ask me when you should confess. You know, you should go and tell him, now! I think buchou's in school now anyway, I heard Ryuzaki-sensei mentioning for him to come in to discuss the non regulars ranking matches. You'll feel better after you tell him." The shorter boy pushed the taller one in the direction of Seikgaku junior high. "Just go! I'll text message Tezuka to wait for you in the club room. I'll catch up with you later under the plum blossoms, now just go!"  
  
Oishi smiled his widest smile at his partner, emboldened by his friend's boisterous support, he ran off in the direction of Seigaku's Academy's tennis courts. He reached the club house, almost breathless, but energized by Kikumaru's kind words. He stopped just outside the door to pull out his small pocket mirror out of his bag to fix his disheveled wind-blown hair when he paused at voices inside of the clubhouse. His heart skipped a beat when he distinctly heard Tezuka's low baritone and another voice. Familiar and yet not. "Tezuka, we need to talk." Tachibana Kippei, Fudoumine's captain. Oishi's lips pressed down slightly at the lack of the honorific -san or -kun typically used. Oishi took a step back from the door, thinking it was wrong for him to be overhearing something that was obviously important enough for Fudoumine's captain to come all this way to Seigaku to talk in person. Yet, curiosity got to the better of him and he stayed his ground, in fact, he leaned in closer.  
  
"Tachibana... We can't talk about this here. Oishi's going to be coming any moment." In the crack of the doorway, Oishi could make out Tachibana Kippei's hand sliding over Tezuka Kunimitsu's in a graceful, and yet coveting motion. "Okay, later then, you can come over to my house, my parents are away and my sister will be out with Akira and Shinji karaoking tonight. But for now... a small present, I heard you like to fish." Tachibana pulled a small fishing hook out of his pocket, caught Tezuka's belt with it and pulled him closer. "Caught you." Tezuka let out a neutral grunt, but there was a slight smile in the corners of his eyes. "Okay, later then." That was enough for Oishi. Tezuka never looks that way at me. He stood up quickly, so quickly his head spun, turned on his heel and walked toward the exit. He pulled out his cell phone and numbly typed in "I can't make it, I have too much homework, I'll discuss the non reg rankings with you on Monday. -Oishi" With all of his might, he pressed down on the send button.  
  
From under the plum blossoms, Kikumaru spotted Oishi walking quickly toward the exit. He ran up behind Oishi and for once was really quiet. They walked far, Oishi answering all of Kikumaru's questions with his silence. Eventually the pair ended up by the bin on the hill overlooking the city. Kikumaru deftly scrambled up, and saying nothing and everything at once with an outstretched hand he pulled up Oishi to the top of the bin where they over looked at sunset. Oishi laid down and placing his head into Kikumaru's lap, sobbed for a really long time. Kikumaru sat there, not crying, trying for once to be Oishi's safe harbor.  
  
As the sun began to set, Oishi sat up, looked at the red haired boy, mustered a smile and an almost apologetic "Arigatou. For being there, for being my partner." Kikumaru Eiji smiled, sucked in his breath and whistled, patiently waiting for the day when the Golden Pair status would transcend to something more than just on the court. 


	2. Waiting is the worst

It'd had been a few months since Oishi Syuichirou had blurted out an ill-timed "Suki da" to Tezuka Kunimitsu. So ill-timed in fact, it was just minutes before Tezuka had to step on his flight away from Seigaku, to the rehab center hundreds of miles away. Tezuka simply blinked, bowed slightly, uttered an unreadable, neutral "Take care." to Oishi, turned on his heel and walked to his gate.

Oishi had been filling up whatever little idle time he had from managing the tennis team with swimming, homework, his fishes and more a surprise to him than anyone else, Eiji. While there were flocks of girls in the school who were huge Golden Pair fans, prior to Tezuka's departure, the Golden Pair actually spent little time outside of practice-related events together. Oishi had spent virtually all of his time like Tezuka's virtual lap dog, much to his chagrin. After his unintentional earful of Tachibana's secret relationship with the captain, Oishi had been careful to slowly and moderately pull away, without seeming like he was abandoning the team or his duties. Despite all of his efforts, Oishi's emotions were boiling over, but like a good friend, he wasn't about to butt in on something that looked from all respects, good for Tezuka. He had promised himself he wouldn't do that to to Tezuka, put him in awkward position of having to concentrate on his recovery and burden him with these _feelings_. But like most things under pressure, as Tezuka was saying his goodbyes, Oishi had felt something inside pop, and it just came out, faster than he could blink. But by the time he could take back what he had said, Tezuka had left.

The days after that horrible haunting sentence, Oishi had been a wreck. Such that Ryuusaki-sensei had told him to take the days off, assuming he was stressed about taking over. Inui and her held off just fine, but perhaps the students didn't from the extra juiced-up regimen. During one of the days while Oishi was resting at home, Eiji came over and literally dragged him out of the house to the local aquarium. "You finally did it huh?" The bouncy red head stated. Oishi had been so trapped in his thoughts, he didn't realize that Eiji had been quiet for a very long time. "I had thought from that time you ran away from the clubhouse, you had already told him. But I guess there was something else going on. I won't pry, although it's killing me to know. But if you do feel like telling someone, anyone, you know I'm here. That being said, it's good you finally told right?" With a huge grin only Kikumaru Eiji could manage.

Eiji's carefree attitude was a welcome change from Tezuka's ever-sturdy, seemingly perpetually serious demeanor. The red-head's happy go-lucky energy provided a strange balm to the captain's stunningly lackluster reaction to Oishi's sudden confession. And somehow, Oishi found himself smiling for the first time in a week.

Well, Eiji had been right, it did feel better to confess, but it had been agonizing to wait…. to wait, for well, just about anything.

In the months that Tezuka had been away, he had not bothered to contact the vice captain except for the occasional text message before a big match with his ever-predictable "Yudan sezu ni ikou." In retrospect, the whole confession had been such a casual, such a matter-of-fact occurrence the green-eyed boy was beginning to wonder if it really had happened at all. All he had known was, essentially, nothing had changed. Nothing. Tezuka had been away ages, finally he was back, and literally it had been as if the captain had left on one of his camping trips a Friday and was back the following Monday.

Despite the bespectacled boy's return of over a week, Oishi had yet to find himself in a setting with Tezuka alone. All their time together was composed of regular reranking matches, and most recently the shocking news that Echizen was going to leave for the matches in the U.S. Any of the meaningful glances Oishi had poised in Tezuka's direction were either completely missed or utterly ignored, the green-eyed boy wasn't sure which.

Around mid-week, when the reranking matches we pretty far progressed, the vice captain noticed a familiar set of uniforms walking toward Tezuka. _Fudoumine._ He hurried to get as close as possible, yet hidden behind a wall, to the conversation between Tachibana Kippei and the captain. Damn, he came to see Tezuka pretty quickly after he came. Almost too soon. A fleeting thought of _Did Tezuka call me or Tachibana first_ _as soon as he arrived?_ For a split second as he observed Tachibana and Tezuka shaking hands, he realized they were holding both their stares and their handshakes for a little bit longer than was considered normal. However, at this point Oishi was so sick… of well just waiting…that this provided a clear closed case of how things were going to end up.

He hadn't realized however, at what point he had started crying. Whether they were tears of relief or sadness or combination of both, he just slid down against the wall and wiped his eyes. "Makechatta. I lost and I didn't even get a chance to try."

He almost jumped when he realized Eiji was sitting right next to him, hands around his knees, quieter than he knew the boy could be. "Eiji… I…." The red head smiled at him, not his typical brighter-than-life smile, but a sad one, and shook his head. "Oishi, you don't have to explain. Whether or not you realize it, I know you better than anyone. So, you can sit here for as long as you want." His blue eyes turned downward slightly. _Wow, those blue eyes really do pick up everything_, Oishi vaguely thought.

"And I'll be right here next to you." Eiji's eye lifted and gave him a honest, true smile. The green-eyed boy leaned back and slid his head on his doubles partner's shoulder. "Well I'm glad in that case someone who's sitting so close next to me brushes his teeth so often." Oishi half-chuckled the ache away. "Oishi! Here I am trying to be all serious and kakkoii, and you're ruining it!" Eiji in mock-anger spouted, but his eyes were shining it all.

"Thank you, Eiji." Came the statement suddenly. At a quick squeeze of Eiji's shoulder, Oishi stood up, pulled Eiji up and turned the corner where he bumped almost full-on with a boisterous Tomoka. Tomoka seeing Oishi's hand which had not yet unclasped Eiji's from pulling him up, squealed loudly and ran off to tell the Golden Pair fanclub about her newest discovery.

Eiji grinned. "Well, I don't mind the rumours. We can give Tezuka a reason to be disappointed he didn't realize the greatest guy in the world was under his nose, ne?" He winked. Oishi turned slightly pink at the compliment. He opened his mouth to reply when a "Oi, Kikumaru-sempai, your match is next!" interrupted the moment. They smiled at each other slightly before running off in the direction of the courts.

Author's notes:

Although I tend to find it really annoying when people use "Fangirl Japanese" in fanfics, there are certain subtle things about the Japanese language that can't be conveyed in English.

"Suki" can be used to mean either like or love. The ambiguity of it I think sometimes is really fascinating. So essentially, if Tezuka really felt like reading it as such, he could just take it as "I like you," but it guess if I hadn't made it exceptionally clear Oishi means it a lot more strongly than that.

Yudan sezu ni ikou – the cliché phrase from Tezuka meaning "let's not get careless"

"Makechatta" I'm not actually quite sure if I'm Romanizing this right. But "I lost" doesn't have quite the same effect. The verb makeru carries more the conviction of being completely defeated. But saying "I was defeated" in English sounds really weird and "I've lost" isn't quite as strong I think.

Other notes. I wasn't intending this to be a Golden Pair fic. Really honestly, Although I like em, and they really are, honestly, sooo married, I tend to think the best relationships come out of friendship. Tezuka and Oishi's relationship seems so much more binding… but even so, this, just came out.

But then again, I love anything with Oishi. Even if it was Oishi x his fishes I'd prolly love it ��


End file.
